Research Background Problem statement Objective

1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

A thin-film solar cell TFSC is a solar cell that is made by depositing one or more thin layers thin film of photovoltaic material on a substrate. It also knows as a thin photovoltaic cell TFPV. Recently, there has been a growing interest in multilayered semiconducting compounds basically consisting of transition metal dichalcogenides MX 2 M = Mo, W, Ni, Cd, Zn etc and X = S, Se, Te Anand, 2009. Thin film is the right and suitable material in the photovoltaic industry. Thin film is also suitable for the development of photoelectrochemical PEC and solar cell panels due to the semiconductor properties and also optical characteristic. A new thin film material such as transition metal chalcogenides NiX 2 was introduced for solar energy to replace the conversional material. Electrodeposition is a technique in thin film preparation because of its advantages such as the possibility for large scale production, minimum waste of component and easy monitoring of deposition process. This technique is also more cost effective rather than those physically prepared method. The composition of the electrolytes throughout the electrodeposition process influences the quality of the film formed Zainal et al., 2005. The parameters of the electrodeposition process such as the growth rate, deposition temperature, compositional, optical and semiconductor properties also will studied in thin film. 2

1.2 Problem statement

This project is to study on the effect of additives for nickel telluride. Tellurium is difficult to deposit. The use of the additive is to improve adhesion of telluride and to produce the uniform coating. The other factor is the cost of its implementation for photovoltaic application. Solar panel including their component such as silicon is much more expensive compared to the other material.

1.3 Objective

a To study the effect of additive influencing NiTe 2 thin film by electrodeposition method along with deposition parameters. b To confirm the effectiveness of the additives in the thin film based on characterization technique using XRD and SEMEDX. c To study the effect of annealing of NiTe 2 thin film prepared by electrodeposition process.

1.4 Scope